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Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Spring has been a little shy this year, but has finally made its appearance. Hallelujah! So while I've been making the best of enjoying the outdoors I have managed to get few more Landsknechts done formy upcoming arquebusier unit.

These four lads arePerry-sculpted 28mm models from Wargames Foundry.

I still find the 'anything goes' styling of Landsknecht clothing to be a little daunting. Nonetheless,I've found that once I get a fix on a colour combination it usually comes together alright.Of this group, I think the fellow with the white and pink sleeves and hose is my favourite.

You have to figure that this guy has to be a pretty hard case to pull-off that getup...Just one more group and I can get them based up. Hooray!

Sunday, April 10, 2016

I'm currently working on a Landsknecht arquebus unit for my Italian Wars project. The going is rather slow, but I'm plodding along at a fairly steady pace. Nonetheless, I thought I'd post a few work-in-progress pics of the first four gunners of the group.

I'm having fun with their riotous clothing, but I must say after doing a few figures my mind starts to turn to mush trying to think of interesting colour combinations. All I can say is thank goodness for Pinterest for providing a bewildering assortment of Landsknechts images - I think I'd run out of ideas without some outside inspiration.

I have no idea if the trippy painted woodstocks are historically accurate, but I've seen them on other sites so I'm running with it.

There will probably be around 16 figures in the unit, all on a single base similar to my other units. I'll post the next set when they're done. Have a great week everyone!

Thursday, April 7, 2016

The last Tribute for my Painting Challenge assistants is forDave Docherty, our prized 'Wednesday Minion' (who also doubled as our peerless Sultan of the Sudan). Dave has been a long-time supporter of the Challenge, having been in the scrum since its second incarnation (the 'Year of the Vikings', I believe), so I was delighted to have him assisting me with the circus this time out. He's a great trooper, that Mr. D.

Originally I wasgoing to do-up a single figure, the fellow seen here leading with the pipe - but while I was preparingthe figure an idea came along which made me modify my plan and allowed me to have a bit more fun with the composition.

As many of you know, this year Dave created a funny story-linefeaturing himself, Millsy and, the close friend of every infantryman,a shovel. InDave'sstory the imperious 'Major Docherty' harangues a hapless 'Corporal Millsy', who's only expertise it seems to be in the digging of latrines. As I was working on Dave's 'tribute', itdawned on me that it might be fun to expand upon his story of the doughty Docherty, the maniacal Millsy and the Shovel of Doom.So I converted another figure to accompany the first and wrote a brief flight of fancy, an un conte,which mixes a Moorcock-esque premise with a dash of Black Adder magic-realism.

'Well, first, I outrank you this time out, and if you'll remember dear heart, it was I who had to use that thing instead of a proper lance in our last outing, when we were in The Valley.Do you remember? I had a hell of a time whacking away at those Frenchies with that blasted shovel. Granted, it does have a wicked edge on it and- '

'Russians.''What?'

'They were Russians, Millsy, you addled git. We were allied with the French, fighting the nasty Russians. Mind you, even Raglan, that inbred one-armed antique, couldn't keep it straight...'

'Oh, yes I remember now. You know, after that scrap in that frightful Belgian farmyard I can never get my head wrapped around the idea of the Frogs being on our side... Anyway, no matter, it's your bloody turn Corporal Docherty. You know the rules - one stripe, one shovel, one battle.'

'Right. You're quite right... So, where are we off to this time Sergeant Millsy? It's blasted hot and what in God's name is that infernal racket? It's giving me a headache. It sounds like a bloody train is about to take station over that ridge.

'I don't know what the sound is, but I can tell you that we're marching to fall in with the lads of the 24th. The poor sodshave that idiot Chelmsford bossing them about so they need all the help they can get. They're all near that hill over yonder. Damn, what's it called again? It's a odd, foreign-sounding name... Ah yes, I remember, Isandwana.

Now, hurry up...'

____________________________________________________

Thank you very much for all your help Dave. I hope you like thislittle vignette and thanks for indulging me on my little departureon your original story. :) Curt

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

This Tribute figure is for my good friend Peter, who was our very entertaining and hard working Monday Minion.

Peter is a die-hard regular inour local gaming group. He's an Easterner, a stats prof and a bit of a loon, but I quite like him. Both of us share a keen interest in the pike and shotte period, with our most recent diversion being the Italian Wars.To help fuel the furnace of industry, Peter and I had a spirited 'Renaissance Men' duel over this past Challenge where we managed to get a load ofunits completed for future tabletop mayhem. So in light of all this, I've decided to present as my tribute to Peter this figure representing a Swiss standard bearer from the canton of Uri.

This is a 28mm model from Wargames Foundry's venerable Renaissance Swiss range. The model was originally armed with a partizan, but I extended the staff, and added a cantonal banner and a fancy finial to top it off.

Much of the literature of the UriSwiss have their ensigns wearing these whacky yellow-and-black bull getups. The uniform makes me laugh as it reminds me of the pajamas 'Max' wears in Maurice Sendak's 'Where the Wild Things Are'. :)

'Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!!'

Whoops! ...and here's Max with the iconic Swiss white cross on his chest (I noticed that I missed it after the first batch of photos...)

Thank you very much for all your help during the Challenge Peter. I think I can speak for all of us in saying that you and your Monday mob always started of our work-weeks with a smile. I hope this chap finds a good home amongst the ranks of your troops.

Monday, April 4, 2016

I've known Byron from waaay back. Back to when I played (get this) the GW Fantasy tournament circuit (!) and he ran his own Rogue Trader series (the excellent 'WarCons'). Byron has been a Challenger since the fourth edition and, as many of you know, has exhibited some of the finest painting seen in the Challenge over the past three years.

This year I was a bit in the weeds with the administration of the duels, but Byron came to my rescue by offering to take them off my shoulders. I know it's been a bit of a struggle for him as he was not involved in the initial negotiations detailing the nuances of the various duels, but he's done a valiant job in maintaining the roster, keeping it updated, so participants could better focus on their targets.

A few years ago Byron began to tip his toe into collecting and painting 28mm French Napoleonics. He's now at a point where he can field a small infantry brigade, so I invited him down this past weekend to get them properly thrashed on the tabletop (really, what's a 500k drive for a wargame amongst friends?). With this in mind, I thought I'd make him a casualty/status stand to add to his collection of Grognards.

Seen here is a French line officer haranguing a grenadier drummer to keep up the tempo.

Both are 28mm figures from the venerable, but excellent, Foundry range, sculpted by the Perry's.

Similar to my other unit stands I've created three sockets on the base to fit small dice to track unit status and a fin that can fit a unit identification label. It's pretty rudimentary stuff, but it seems to work alright and I find looks nicer than 'bare' chits or dice cluttering the tabletop.

Below are a few examples of previous unit stands I've done with their ID labels and how one of them looks with a sample unit (the small greyscale marker is to track things like 'Fatigue' or 'Disruption, depending on the system).